The act of solidarity, bone marrow donation

By Charlène Farrugia, Recruitment and Careers Manager Agence Sud (Aix-en-Provence)

What if 10 minutes of my time could save a life?

I already donate blood but I wanted to do more, except that in my daily life I don’t have enough time… you know how it is! Life goes by at a hundred miles an hour… What can I do? What if 10 minutes of my time could save a life?

I have seen, around me, many people affected by a serious blood disease. Thousands of children and adults, in France and abroad, can be helped or even saved by a simple bone marrow donation.

You may not be aware of it, but it is essential to the functioning of the human body (we take cells, nothing to do with the spinal cord, we don’t mix everything!)

If you care or are looking for a good cause to help, then join the national voluntary bone marrow donor register. It gives patients an extra chance of recovery. Isn’t it worth it?

1. The first step is to apply for registration in just 5 minutes. You just have to answer a few questions directly. These questions are used to check whether we are fit to be a bone marrow donor.
2. Second step, only 2 minutes, the finalization of my commitment that I chose to do at home. You have to fill in a health questionnaire and do a saliva test (simply put some saliva in a tube).

This test is my “biological identity card” that allows me to see if I am compatible with a patient. In fact, it took me 7 minutes out of the 10 announced, the remaining time is the time of the diversions to send the mail (already stamped).

And now I’m on the national donor register. Now I just have to wait for a possible match!

What happens next? If I’m a match? Well, in 80% of cases, bone marrow cell donation is done by blood sampling and there is a centre not far from my home. Life is good!

Please note: registering as a bone marrow donor is an altruistic and anonymous act that requires reflection because it is a long-term commitment to perhaps one day help a patient whom we do not know to recover. One can only donate bone marrow to a person with whom one shares the same biological HLA characteristics and this compatibility between two people is rare.

I’m not here to proselytize but you never know… Why not you?